GOLF NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XX, 19 May 1900, Page 927

GOLF NOTES.

” (By Bogey.) On Saturday, the 12th inst., the Bogey match for Dr. Stuart Reid’s prize was played. The weather was perfect, but the links were a trifle soft after the recent heavy rains, although the greens were by no means slow. There was what is known as

“golfing paralysis” in the air—in other words, the display of golf was, with the exception pf that of the winner (Mr. Bamford) only of a very poor order. Mr. Bamford finished one up on his opponent with a handicap of 8 strokes, and his card shows that he was playing a very steady and occasionally a somewhat brilliant game. 1 think this is the first time Mr. Bamfor has score a win, which is due perhaps to the fact that he has never received very lenient treatment at the hands of the handicappers. The next liest cards shown in were those of Messrs Hogg and A. B. Lawrence, who were each 3 down to Bogey. Both these gentlemen state they have a grievance against a well-known member of the Club (who is also a bit of a wag), who informed them towards the end of their game, that he had finished 6up pp Bogey. Thinking that they had no chance of winning the competition, they played the last few holes carelessly, and were very wroth to find that thfs self-same wag had actually finished 6 down to Bogey. It is, I regret tb say. a common practice for players fo give wrong information as to the result of their game. I think this practice should be put down with a strong hand, although I am also of opinion that no competitor ought to ask another competitor the state of his card till he has finished his own match, for if he receive information it may give him an advantage over anybody who has not had an opportunity’ of obtaining it. There were a number*, of informal cards banded in, and I Would again remind members that edrds must be signed by the scorer, with the result shown on the card, and then the player must countersign the card.

Before elosing this week's notes I would like to record an amusing incident that occurred on the links a few days ago. A player drove his Irall into the forest at he forest hole, and after searching for it for a few minutes eventually espied it in a clump of grass. He called for his “heavy iron” in his well-known deep bass voice, and addressed bis ball in his own peculiar and inimitable style. The ball not being sufficiently “teed” caused the player to miss it altogether.™ uch to the amusement of the two cadddie boys gild bis opponent.

Nothing daunted he approached the little white sphere once again with a wild, wicked look iu his eye. At this, the second attempt, the heavy iron carried al! before it, the hall flying away in various pieces, aud still the caddies and the op|>oneiit appeared convulsed with merriment. The striker, somewhat dazed and ruffled in his temper, turned to his caddie and said, “Where the d 1 is the ball, anyhow?” The reply was, "Please, sir, it was a mushroom.”

On Thursday the committee of the A.L.G.C. held a meeting to make final arrangements for the championship meeting this week. It was decided to play the championship on Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday (the Auckland Golf Club having kindly given the ladies permission to play on that day), aud Friday. The handicap, approach, and putting competition commences on Tuesday nt 2.30. The handicap doubles take place- an Thursday, and on Friday. besides the championship final, there will be the driving competition, the putting competition, and the presentation of prizes by the president. There are 10 entries for the championship, and on Monday Mrs Colbeek plays off against Miss Shut tie worth, nnd Miss M. Wilkins against Miss L. Gillies.

Great regret is felt throughout the Club that Mrs W. Bloomfield has been obliged to retire from all events.

On Thurslay seven new m-.-inb ns — Miss K. Lennox. Miss T. Buddle, Mrs T. Hutchinson, Miss M. Purchas, Mrs Stafford Walker, and Miss (I. Itus ell were elected playing members, and M:ss M. Buckland was elected an hon. member.

The enlarged Ngnmotn Links. New Plymouth, now available, with a fine complement of 18 holes, over some rather difficult country, including a running stream, which has already proved the death of innumerable balls, and the birth of a considerable quantity of unparliamentary language, have been pronounced by a St. Andrew's authority to lie as nearly perfection, when the greens are in a little better order, as can be found in Ihe North Island.

On the last two holidays there were most of the players present, especially the ladies, who are competing for Mrs .1. Weston’s trophy. Mr Standish. Milt. Wood, and Dr. Walker (captain) have also contributed trophies. The Itest. scores so far have been for the is holes: Dr. Walker. 87; Mr W. Todd. Aberfoyle (Scotland) Club. 91; ami Mr Pollen, 93.

The following is dipped from “The Australasian”: —

The Hon. Treasurer of the Auckland Golf Clubwrites a very fair letter to “Golf Illustrated.’' re their mistake of catling- Mr .1. D. Howden Champion of Australasia. This mistake has occurred in other papers, but 1 have never corrected it. as I thought most golfers knew the real facts of the ease. I need not say that Mr J. D. Bowden has never claimed to Im* the Champion of Australasia, but only Champion of Victoria. A few words relative to the championship will be interesting, and enable the matter to Im* dearly understood. In 189:’ and 1893 some Adelaide golfers eame over to Melbourne for the Cup, and played over the Caulfield course. It occurred to the R.M.G.C. it would be a niee thing if an intercolonial contest could take place then, and it also seemed as if Melbourne at Cup time was the only time and place at which it was possible to get intercolonial players together. Accordingly their hon. see. wrote to the principal clubs in Sydney, Adelaide, and New Zealand about it. giving the above reasons, and received letters from Sydney, Adelaide, and several New Zealand clubs agreeing to its being considered the Championship of Australasia, and the said clubs also sent players to play for it. The R.M.G.C. provided a cup called the Victorian Golf Cup. to be held by’ the winner. After some years the other clubs got stronger, and the Royal Sydney suggested that the championship should be played on alternate links. To this the R.M.G.C. at once agreed, as it was only held on this course for the general convenience. A Union was formed, and it was decided to play for it for the first time under the new conditions in Sydney. This was done in May first year, when Mr Gillies, of New Zealand, won after a good contest with Mr H. A. Howden. At the time of the alteration, however, it was agreed that the R.M.G.C. should have a Victorian Championship the same as New South Wales have, and that, the Victorian Golf Cup should now become the prize for that. It was this prize which Mr J. D. Howden won,

so that although he won the prize which had hitherto carried the Championship of Australasia, it now only, carries the Clrauipionship of Victoria. The ex-Champions of Australasia are:- —1894, Mr L. A. Whyte. Geelong GJ'.; 1895, Mr R. A. A. Balfour Melville, R.M.G.C.; 1896, 1897. and 1898. Mr 11. -A. Howden. R.M.G.C. ® ® ® WANGANUI GOLF CLUB. May 10. The .showery weather of the last fortnight has vastly improved the turf, and the putting greens are now in good order. The match with Palmerston, which was to have been played on Saturday last, coiites oft' on the 12th. The alteration was made at the request of the Palmerston Club, who purpose bringing up six or eight players. We do not anticipate such an easy win as we had last year when Wanganui inflicted a crushing defeat of 33 to 1. Indeed, though we expect the match will be a close one, we shall not be surprised to have the tables completely turned on us. Anyhow the match is sure to be as enjoyable as its predecessors. The work of top-dressing anil turfing the greens is now completed, and I lie renovation of teeing grounds is now proceeding. It is unlikely that we shall be able to extend our links to 18 holes this year. The ladies are in strong force this year, having a membership of over 60. They have not yet shown, however, any great vigour in practice. A combined foursome was arranged for Wednesday, 9th inst.. but owing to showery weather had to be postponed, as no ladies turned up. The second monthly competition, a Bogey match, was played Inst Saturday. May sth. There was an excellent entry of 21. but. though the weather was perfect, the scoring was poor, largely owing no doubt to the temporary greens, which, not t iienisely-?s bad, have very rough approaches; Time only allowed a 12-hole round to be played, and the winner was found in E. B. Heywood, who with a handicap of 10, was four up. Mr Heywood is an improving player and well deserves his success. Dr. Saunders, also with 10, was three up, played much more steadily than usual; F. Hathcrly, with the limit of 24, was 2 up. The following were close up:—J. D. Grey (.2), 1 down; IL B. Taylor (10), 1 down; I. Saiinilers (scratch), 2 down; .1. Harold (owe 4), 3 down; H. B. Matson (2), 3 down; D. Meldrum (scratch), 3 down; and S. T. Fitzherhcrt (2), 3 down. Entries for the local tournament close on Saturday, May 19th. FOOZLER. ® ® ® WELLINGTON. We arc sorry that more of our men have not been able to get away for the championship at Dunedin. However, we hope that Arthur Duncan, Ken Duncan, and Jackson, who will be there, will bring back some prizes. As far as Wellington is concerned May is rather early for Hie championship. Some of us take a long time to get into form, and find that at the beginning of the season we never know if we are going to play a decent game or not. Malcolm Ross and E. Pearce have been playing well iu our local competitions. Miss Githa Williams leaves for a lengthy visit to England. If she gets good coaching there we expect to hear of her again in the golfing c i re les. There lias been great excitement lately over a house match. Webster was captain of one side and t'oom of the other. Coont's side won by two holes. We were glad to see Mr Gillies on the links on Tuesday. ® ® ® CHRISTCHURCH. May 2. There was a very large entry for the first monthly medal competition of the season, which was played on llagley Park last Saturday. The greens were n little bit rough, and the scoring was consequently on the high side. Mr R. Ki tt,o won the medal for the best grox* score, while the handicap fell to Mr 11. 11. Pitman, tht limit mnu. Curiously enough, limit men occupy the first and the last positions on the list. On the

whole the handicappers did their work very vrvll. It is always hard to handicap nijfi at the beginning of tl»e season. It was very gratifying to see such a large entry, and considerable enthusiasm was displayed by those competing. The following are

During the week Mr O'Rorke handed in the tine score of 79, whieh is evidence of the fact that he is rapidly getting into form, and if the Auckland contingent at the Championship will be small, it promises to be very strong. 1 fancy lie would have done much better in tile Medal Competition on Saturday, had it not been for the fact that his mate did not turn up, and he had to play with a long handicap man. which is nearly always disconcerting to a good player, as he Ims nothing to play up to. CHRISTCHURCH, May 9.

The first Foursome Saturday was an unqualified success, a very large number of players turning up. and some very good and close games resulted. The new members seemed to appreciate the attention they received, and several of them performed very creditably. The Committee took upon tlieniseltcs the responsibility of arranging the games on this occasion, in order that the disaster of four duffers going round by thbmselves should not take place. The result was satisfactory, as everyone was provided for. In future, however, members will arrange their own foursomes,

The Championship Meeting is nowclose upon us. and the representatives from Christchurch will probably be Messrs Wilder and W. Harman. There is a bare possibility that Mr Kitto may be able to get away, but he is very doubtful. It is to be regretted that a stronger team (numerically speaking) could not have gone to Dunedin, but the time of the year does not seem to suit a great many members. I hope to hear that Hie team, though small, has rendered a good account Of itself. NIBLICK.

the scores: — G ross score. Ilandi- Net cap. score. 11. It. Pitman !u6 30 76 G. G. Bridges 109 30 79 J F Miles 98 18 80 ]>. 11. Reid 99 16 83 \V 11 Burton . 96 1 I 85 It. M. Kitto.... 0 85 '1’ I) Harman. ... • 94 8 86 T W Cane 108 86 T. 1). Condell 102 15 87 S. II. B itchelor ... 103 15 88 \V 1) Fox 101 13 88 (i. Campbell 100 12 88 .1. W. 11. Wood . . . . 93 4 89 97 6 91 W. H. Graham.... 105 14 91 ( .1 .Miller 1 12 21 91 VV. G. ( otterill. ... 100 9 91 ! 13 21 92 M. Tavlor 102 8 94 E. J). O'Korke.... 94 0 94 C. K. Sams 106 12 94 XV. T. I’harlewood 1 101 4 97 T. Y. Wardrop.... , 105 8 97 W. Darman 100 2 98 G Harris 1 19 1 5 104 M. Ormsby , 123 16 107 It. O. Dunean , 152 30 122